Prevention of marine corrosion with graphene-based polymer coatings

In recent years, many breakthroughs in research on graphene as a corrosion-resistant coating for metal have been witnessed due to its excellent properties like chemical stability, mechanical strength, permeability, etc. The present review discusses graphene and its composite as an anticorrosive coating for marine applications. The economic and environmental losses caused by the corrosion in day-to-day life are large, and coatings are one of the preventive measures to reduce these losses. The corrosion gets accelerated when some significant factors like salinity, pH, water velocity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen content also come into picture. The excellent physical and chemical properties for graphene like high strength electrical conductivity, large surface area, etc., make it a potential candidate for a number of applications.

Different techniques for the synthesis of graphene and its derivatives are explained

The different techniques for the synthesis of graphene and its derivatives like graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide have been also briefed in this review. The pure graphene coatings have shown excellent anticorrosive properties. However, defects in pure graphene coating have a substantial impact compared to multilayering for anticorrosive behavior. Graphene-based composites are more durable and reliable than pure graphene coating. The various techniques for the synthesis of graphene-based polymer coatings are solution mixing, melt mixing, and in situ polymerization. In the marine environment, graphene should be dispersed uniformly parallel to the metallic surface to provide excellent erosion corrosion properties. However, cathodic protection is a crucial issue in organic coatings, and zinc-rich graphene coatings are effective in case of defects in the coating. Other functional properties of graphene-based polymeric coatings like antifouling, hydrophobicity, better mechanical and wear properties, UV protection, and electrical conductivity give an edge to these coatings in marine conditions.

The study has been published in Journal of Coatings Technology and Research, Volume 20, issue 2, March 2023